ARTICLES ABOUT ALLENTOWN BAND BY DATE - PAGE 3

Free concerts by the Allentown Band and "America's Got Talent" sensation Alice Tan Ridley, a kids' summer party, a muscle car display and fireworks highlight the third-annual free Independence Day Celebration presented by Embassy Bank July 4-6 at SteelStacks. Fireworks presented by the City of Bethlehem will burst over the blast furnaces at 9 p.m. July 4 Rain date is July 5. There also is a concert by the Municpal Band of Bethlehem at 7:30 p.m. at Payrow Plaza. At SteelStacks, the Allentown Band performs patriotic music at the Levitt Pavilion at 8 p.m. July 4, featuring everything from the music of John Philip Sousa to classical overtures and modern compositions.

See beautiful art in a beautiful Allentown park and beautiful restored Victorian homes that surround the park this weekend when the West Park Civic Association presents its 39th annual Art-in-the-Park event and 31st annual House Tour. Up first 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday is Art-in-the-Park, which features nearly 90 regional artists in numerous mediums — watercolor, graphics, oil, acrylic, photography, and 3D (pottery, wood, jewelry, glass, fabric, sculpture). Browse and shop, while musicians perform in the bandshell.

I am Morton Gould's daughter and had the privilege of attending the concert at Miller Symphony Hall in Allentown, where Daddy's music legacy was honored and celebrated. I have been traveling around the country attending such concerts, but this one was special. For part of the concert, the fine Allentown Band was joined onstage by talented young musicians from various high schools in the area. On that beautiful stage, old school met new school and that collaboration enriched and delighted everyone in the audience.

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of American composer, conductor and pianist Morton Gould, arguably one of the most gifted musicians since Mendelssohn. He published his first work at age 6, titled, appropriately enough, "Just Six," was hosting and conducting radio programs in his 20s, and by the time he was 30 was composing classical symphonies, music for bands and pop scores for television, films and Broadway. Few musicians have been as successful in so many different endeavors as Gould.

Forty-four years after fighting at Gettysburg as a Confederate soldier, Stephen Albion Repass was back in Pennsylvania. This time, the former rebel fighter was helping dedicate a monument to honor Union Civil War veterans. On June 26, 1899, a crowd had gathered at Allentown's Center Square to mark the laying of the cornerstone for the Soldiers and Sailors Monument to Lehigh County's veterans. As the Allentown Band played the last notes of "Onward Christian Soldiers" the Rev. Repass, now 63 and pastor of the city's St. John's Lutheran Church, came forward on the reviewing stand.

If you love our Allentown community bands and can't wait for summer concert season, there's two concerts Sunday, April 28. Unfortunately, they're both at 3 p.m., so you have to choose one. The Allentown Band performs a benefit for the Liberty Bell Museum at Zion's Church, 620 Hamilton St., Allentown. The concert features operatic works from Wagner and Verdi and selections from contemporary American composer Morton Gould. Jane Knotek, director of music at Zion's, will be featured on the pipe organ for Wagner's "Elsa Procession to the Cathedral" and selections from Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Phantom of the Opera.

SPRING HOME SHOW 1 Want to remodel your home? Come out to the 11th Annual Eastern Pennsylvania Spring Home Show today through Sunday at the Agri-Plex at the Allentown Fairgrounds. Talk to the experts and browse landscaping and custom home building options. Bring your kids to the free Home Depot Kids Workshop where they can build their own project. Show hours are 5-9 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday. Admission is $8; $7, seniors; free, children under 12; $1 off with a non-perishable food item for the local food banks.

When the venerable Mauch Chunk Opera House in Jim Thorpe hosts the even more venerable Allentown Band Saturday night, the concert will represent several points of historical meaning. Both the opera house and the band date to the 1800s, with the band holding the senior position. The Allentown Band, which bills itself as the "oldest civilian concert band in the United States," traces its origin to the 1820s, when the modern idea of a concert band was just emerging. The opera house was designed in the early 1880s by the prominent Philadelphia architect Addison Hutton as a vaudeville venue, a function it served for several decades.

Two of Allentown's community bands are performing their annual holiday concerts at 3 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 9. Both concerts offere a wide variety of music. The Marine Band, under conductor Tom Heinick, will perform at the Scottish Rite Cathedral, 1533 Hamilton St.. On the program are classics like Gesu Bambino, contemporary music such as highlights from "The Polar Express," and favorites including "O Holy Night," "A Charlie Brown Christmas" and "Sleigh Ride. " Small ensembles will emerge from the band, including a brass ensemble, low brass quintet, clarinet choir, sax quartet and more.

Good things come in small packages, but sometimes really good things come in great big packages. That's the case with the Allentown Band's Holiday/Pearl Harbor Remembrance Concert on Dec. 2 at Miller Symphony Hall. Never before has the band's annual program been delivered in such a large, festive box. As in previous years, Summer Harmony Men's Chorus will join the band in patriotic favorites honoring service personnel and veterans, in addition to lots of holiday treats. But this year, tucked among the usual stocking stuffers, is a world premiere by band clarinetist Steve Reisteter, George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" featuring pianist Michael Toth, and the debut of "Christmas is Love in December," by the late George Boyer, featuring soprano Susan Boyer, his wife.